Charting the Pacific - Places Chilean peso Government As a province of Chile, Easter Island is administered by a governor appointed by the central government in Santiago and representing the President. The province of Easter Island is part of the Valparaiso region. Elections are held every four years in the main settlement of Hanga Roa for six councillors who, in turn, elect their mayor. A Council of Elders was formed in 1983 to represent the interests of the native Rapa Nuis. Resources The main economic resource is tourism. Each year, direct flights from Papeete (French Polynesia) and Santiago bring more than 15,000 tourists to the Island. Traditional subsistence farming is carried out by locals. History Easter Island seems likely to have been settled early in the Christian era although earliest radiocarbon dating for human habitation is towards the end of the first millennium. The identity of the first settlers is hotly debated. Polynesianists claim that they were Polynesians from the Marquesas Islands and that there were no other arrivals in prehistoric times.

The Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl, who led an archaeological expedition to the island in 1955-56, claimed that the island's prehistory falls into three periods: Early (c. 400-c.1100 AD); Middle (c.1100-c.1680) and Late (c.1680-1668), with American Indians the only inhabitants until Polynesians arrived at the start of the Late period. He attributed the island's massive stone structures and statues (moai) to Middle Period immigrants of the Tiahuanaco culture of present-day Bolivia and Chile. The Polynesianists agree that work on the megaliths ceased abruptly in about 1680, but claim that this was due to tribal wars induced by overpopulation and famine.

Two factors strongly support Heyerdahl's scenario:(1) about a dozen cultivated plants of American origin or provenance , including the sweet potato, are now thought to have been on the island prehistorically; and (2) in 1971, 18 Easter Islanders with no known non-Easter Island ancestors were found to carry certain genes that are peculiar to Europeans and especially common among Basques. The only seemingly feasible explanation for the 'Basque' genes is that they reached the island in about 1680 with Hispano-Polynesian descendants of sailors from the Spanish caravel 'San Lesmes' - now known to have run aground in the Tuamotu Archipelago in 1526. The Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen chanced upon the island on Easter Sunday, 1722. Hence, its name. Spaniards from Peru were the next visitors in 1770 followed by Captain Cook in 1774. In 1862-63, labour recruiters from Peru kidnapped more than a thousand islanders to work on the guano islands and plantations of that country. Only 15 survived to be repatriated.

Some returned with infectious diseases that quickly decimated their compatriots. Catholic missionaries who arrived in 1866 had converted the entire remaining population to Christianity by 1868. But conflict between them and a French settler who established a sheep run on the island forced the missionaries to flee in 1871 with about 100 of their followers. By 1877, the island's native population was down to only 110. A Chilean naval captain, Policarpo Toro, annexed the island to Chile in 1888. From then until the 1950's, European interests based in Valparaiso exploited the island as a sheep run, the islanders being confined to Hanga Roa. The opening of an international airport in 1966 made the island readily accessible to the outside world for the first time.

Main Issues land rights: the native Rapa Nui want to regain control of the land still under government control (in particular a cattle ranch and a national park) social and cultural problems (alcoholism, loss of cultural identity) due to the expansion of tourisim Links Easter Island (Rapa Nui) & Moai Statues Easter Island (Rapa Nui) & Moai Statues By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor | October 16, 2012 02:14pm ET MORE Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island (a name given to it by Europeans), is located in the southeast Pacific and is famous for its approximately 1,000 carvings of moai, human-faced statues. The island measures about 14 miles (22 km) by 7 miles (11 km) at its furthest points and it is often said that it can be traversed by foot in a single day. The volcanic island is the most isolated inhabited landmass on Earth. The closest inhabited land is the Pitcairn Islands, located about 1,200 miles (1,900 km) to the west.

Chile, the closest South American country, is located about 2,300 miles (3,700 km) to the east. Easter Island "heads" on the slope of Rano Raraku volcano. Credit: Image via Shutterstock The famous carvings are massive, up to 40 feet (12 meters) tall and 75 tons in weight. They were decorated on top with “Pukao,” a soft red stone in the shape of a hat. The statues also have torsos buried beneath the heads . Recent analysis of radiocarbon dating from the island indicate that Rapa Nui was first settled around A.D. 1200 , a period in which Polynesians voyaged to the east Pacific and perhaps also to South America and California. According to legend, a chief named Hotu Matu’a, having learned of Rapa Nui from an advance party of explorers, led a small group of colonists, perhaps no more than 100 people, to the island. Their place of origin is a mystery and may have been the Marquesas Islands, located 2,300 miles (3,700 km) to the northwest of Rapa Nui.

Another suggestion is Rarotonga, located 3,200 miles (5,200 km) to the southwest of the island. In any case, the voyage would have been an arduous one that may have involved tacking against the wind. A deforested environment When people first came to Rapa Nui, around 800 years ago, they would have found the island overgrown with palm trees, among other vegetation. In the centuries that followed Rapa Nui was deforested until, by the 19th century, the landscape was utterly barren. How this occurred is a matter of debate. When people arrived at Rapa Nui they brought with them (whether intentionally or not) the Polynesian rat, a creature that reproduces rapidly and which the Polynesians sometimes consumed. This species had no natural enemies on the island and may have played a major role in deforestation . The popular claim that the island’s palm trees were felled to create devices to move the moai statues is probably incorrect.

According to ancient stories the statues “walked” from the quarries to their place on stone platforms (known as ahu) and, indeed, research has shown that two small teams using ropes can move the statues vertically. A recent demonstration of this was recorded on a YouTube video (below) by Terry Hunt, a University of Hawaii professor, and Carl Lipo, a professor at California State University Long Beach. It is also noted by Hunt and Lipo that the deforestation of the island may not have led to a food crisis. They point out in their book, "The Statues that Walked" (Free Press, 2011) that abundant rocks on the island allowed for the construction of stone-protected gardens known as “manavai.” These stone gardens would have been supported by lithic mulching, a process by which minerals from rocks fertilize the soil. The people of the island, it appears, had enough food not only to build and move statues, but also to develop a written script, today known as Rongorongo, which researchers are still trying to decipher. Moai mystery In their book, Hunt and Lipo provide more evidence for the idea that the statues were moved vertically.

They note the presence of pathways or “roads” that lead from quarry sites to moai locations in the southeast, northwest and southwest parts of the island. Some of Easter Island's famous stone Moai statues stood more than 30 feet high and weighed up to 82 tons. Credit: Terry Hunt/University of Hawaii, Manoa “The evidence on the ground revealed that roads were not part of some overall planned network. Rather they are the remnants of paths that moai transporters took as they walk the statues across the landscape,” they write. While this helps explain how the statues were moved around the island, it doesn’t explain why. Scholars don’t know what the reasons were for creating the statues, but they have noted several features that provide clues. The statues on their platforms can be found ringing almost the entire coast of the island. Remarkably, despite their seaside location, every single one of the moai appears to face inland and not out to sea, suggesting that they were meant to honour people or deities located within Rapa Nui itself. Construction of the moai statues appears to have stopped around the time of European contact in 1722, when Dutch explorers landed on Easter Day.

Over the next century the moai would fall over, either intentionally pushed over or from simple neglect. Why construction was abandoned is another mystery. It’s known that disease ravaged the island’s people after contact and that the islanders had a desire for European goods. Early explorers recorded that hats were particularly popular among the people of the island. Regardless of what the moai were intended for, and why construction of them stopped, today the popularity of the statues is higher than ever. Many statues have been re-erected on their ahu bases and Rapa Nui now has a population of more than 5,000 people, its hotels and facilities supporting a thriving modern tourism industry. Easter Island Easter Island The Moai statues of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) One of the world's most famous yet least visited archaeological sites, Easter Island is a small, hilly, now treeless island of volcanic origin. Located in the Pacific Ocean at 27 degrees south of the equator and some 2200 miles (3600 kilometers) off the coast of Chile, it is considered to be the world’s most remote inhabited island.

Sixty-three square miles in size and with three extinct volcanoes (the tallest rising to 1674 feet), the island is, technically speaking, a single massive volcano rising over ten thousand feet from the Pacific Ocean floor. The oldest known traditional name of the island is Te Pito o Te Henua, meaning ‘The Center (or Navel) of the World.’ In the 1860’s Tahitian sailors gave the island the name Rapa Nui, meaning ‘Great Rapa,’ due to its resemblance to another island in Polynesia called Rapa Iti, meaning ‘Little Rapa’. The island received its most well known current name, Easter Island, from the Dutch sea captain Jacob Roggeveen who became the first European to visit Easter Sunday, April 5, 1722. In the early 1950s, the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl (famous for his Kon-Tiki and Ra raft voyages across the oceans) popularized the idea that the island had been originally settled by advanced societies of Indians from the coast of South America. Extensive archaeological, ethnographic and linguistic research has conclusively shown this hypothesis to be inaccurate.

It is now considered likely that the original inhabitants of Easter Island are of Polynesian stock (DNA extracts from skeletons have confirmed this), that they most probably came from the Marquesas or Society islands, and that they arrived as early as 318 AD (carbon dating of reeds from a grave confirms this). It is estimated that the original colonists, who may have been lost at sea, arrived in only a few canoes and numbered fewer than 100. At the time of their arrival, much of the island was forested, was teeming with land birds, and was perhaps the most productive breeding site for seabirds in the Polynesia region. Because of the plentiful bird, fish and plant food sources, the human population grew and gave rise to a rich religious and artistic culture. That culture's most famous features are its enormous stone statues called moai, at least 288 of which once stood upon massive stone platforms called ahu. There are some 250 of these ahu platforms spaced approximately one half mile apart and creating an almost unbroken line around the perimeter of the island.

Another 600 moai statues, in various stages of completion, are scattered around the island, either in quarries or along ancient roads between the quarries and the coastal areas where the statues were most often erected. Nearly all the moai are carved from the tough stone of the Rano Raraku volcano. The average statue is 14 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs 14 tons. Some moai were as large as 33 feet and weighed more than 80 tons (one statue only partially quarried from the bedrock was 65 feet long and would have weighed an estimated 270 tons). Depending upon the size of the statues, it has been estimated that between 50 and 150 people were needed to drag them across the countryside on sleds and rollers made from the island's trees. Moai statues, Easter Island The Paschalococos disperta and the Saphora toromiro were once the island’s most bountiful trees and sediment samples dating from 200 AD indicate an abundance of pollen from both trees in the island biota at that time.

The Paschalococos disperta bear a striking resemblance to the still-surviving Jubaea chilensis, the Chilean wine palm, which grows up eighty feet tall and six feet in diameter. Thus the Paschalococos disperta palm tree trunks are the most probable candidates for the solution to the transportation of the enormous moai from their carving location at the Rano Raraku volcano to the many locations where they were erected around the island. These trees were also important to the islanders for fuel and for the construction of houses and ocean-fishing canoes. The moai and ahu were in use as early as AD 500, the majority were carved and erected between AD 1000 and 1650, and they were still standing when Jacob Roggeveen visited the island in 1722. Recent research has shown that certain statue sites, particularly the most important ones with great ahu platforms, were periodically ritually dismantled and reassembled with ever-larger statues. A small number of the moai were once capped with ‘crowns’ or ‘hats’ of red volcanic stone.

The meaning and purpose of these capstones is not known, but archaeologists have suggested that the moai thus marked were of pan-island ritual significance or perhaps sacred to a particular clan. Scholars are unable to definitively explain the function and use of the moai statues. It is assumed that their carving and erection derived from an idea rooted in similar practices found elsewhere in Polynesia but which evolved in a unique way on Easter Island. Archaeological and iconographic analysis indicates that the statue cult was based on an ideology of male, lineage-based authority incorporating anthropomorphic symbolism. The statues were thus symbols of authority and power, both religious and political. But they were not only symbols. To the people who erected and used them, they were actual repositories of sacred spirit. Carved stone and wooden objects in ancient Polynesian religions, when properly fashioned and ritually prepared, were believed to be charged by a magical spiritual essence called mana. The ahu platforms of Easter Island were the sanctuaries of the people of Rapa Nui, and the moai statues were the ritually charged sacred objects of those sanctuaries.

While the statues have been toppled and re-erected over the centuries, the mana or spiritual presence of Rapa Nui is still strongly present at the ahu sites and atop the sacred volcanoes. Mystery surrounds the purpose of the ahu platforms and moai statues but even more perplexing mysteries have begun to surface from the research of scholars outside the boundaries of conventional archaeology. As previously mentioned, orthodox archaeologists hypothesize that Easter Island was initially settled sometime around 320 AD by a small group of Polynesians lost on the open sea. Other scholars, however, have suggested that the tiny island may once have been part of a larger island whose original discovery and use may be several thousands of years earlier in time (it is known, for example, that Melanesians were journeying around the Pacific in boats as early as 5500 BC). Three researchers in particular, Graham Hancock, Colin Wilson and Rand Flem-Ath, believe that Easter Island was an important node in a global grid of sacred geography that predates the great floods of archaic times.

Easter Island, writes Graham Hancock, is “part of a massive subterranean escarpment called the East Pacific Rise, which reaches almost to the surface at several points. Twelve thousand years ago, when the great ice cap of the last glaciation was still largely unmelted, and sea-level was 100 meters lower than it is today, the Rise would have formed a chain of steep and narrow antediluvian islands, as long as the Andes mountain range.” At that time, the land we now call Easter Island would simply have been the highest peak of a much larger island. Humans were traveling in these areas at that time and so might have settled at various places, including what is now the island of Easter Island. Besides its more well known name of Rapa Nui, Easter Island is also known as Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua, meaning ‘The Navel of the World’, and as Mata-Ki-Te-Rani, meaning ‘Eyes Looking at Heaven’. These ancient names, and a host of mythological details ignored by mainstream archaeologists, point to the possibility that the remote island may once have been a geodetic marker and the site of an astronomical observatory of a long forgotten civilization.

Speculations about this shadowy antediluvian culture include the notion that its mariners had charted the world’s oceans, that its astronomers had sophisticated knowledge of long-term astronomical cycles such as precession and cometary orbits, and that its historians had records of previous global cataclysms and the destruction they caused of even more ancient civilizations. In his book, Heaven’s Mirror, Hancock suggests that Easter Island may once have been a significant scientific outpost of this antediluvian civilization and that its location had extreme importance in a planet-spanning, mathematically precise grid of sacred sites. He writes, “The very existence of such an ancient world grid has been staunchly resisted by mainstream archaeologists and historians – as, of course, have all attempts to relate known sites to it. Nevertheless, the definite traces of lost astronomical knowledge that are to be seen on Easter Island, and the recurrent echoes of ancient Egyptian spiritual and cosmological themes, cast doubt on the scholarly explanation that the odd name ‘Navel of the World’ was adopted for purely ‘poetic and descriptive’ reasons.

We suspect that Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua may originally have been selected for settlement, and given its name, entirely because of its geodetic location.” “What we are suggesting therefore is that Easter Island might have originally have been settled in order to serve as a sort of geodetic beacon, or marker – fulfilling some as yet unguessed at function in an ancient global system of sky-ground co-ordinates that linked many so-called ‘world navels’”. Two other alternative scholars, Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, have extensively studied the location and possible function of these geodetic markers. In their fascinating book, Uriel’s Machine, they suggest that one purpose of the geodetic markers was as part of a global network of sophisticated astronomical observatories dedicated to predicting and preparing for future cometary impacts and crustal displacement cataclysms. The great floods of archaic myths did not result from the melting of the ice caps between 13,000 and 8000 BC but rather from two great cataclysms that were caused by cosmic and cometary objects affecting the entire planet.

These cataclysms were 1) the pass-by of an enormous, perhaps moon-sized cosmic object and an ensuing planet-wide crustal displacement in 9600 BC, and 2) the seven cometary impacts of 7640 BC which resulted in the massive waves (3-5 miles high, traveling at over 400 miles per hour for distances of more than 2000 miles), volcanic activity and other terrestrial and climatological events recorded in myths all across the planet. Prior to these cataclysmic events however, in what is commonly called the late Paleolithic era, a maritime civilization may have existed with cities situated along coastlines that are now submerged beneath the seas. Moai statues, Easter Island The decline of culture on Easter Island In the past few decades various theories have been suggested for the rapid decline of Easter Island’s remarkable culture. Jared Diamond in his excellent book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive explains that a few centuries after Easter Island’s initial colonization the resource needs of the growing population had begun to outpace the island's capacity to renew itself ecologically.

By the 1400s, the forests had been entirely cut, the rich ground cover had eroded away, the springs had dried up, and the vast flocks of birds coming to roost on the island had disappeared. With no logs to build the canoes necessary for offshore fishing, with depleted bird and wildlife food sources, and with declining crop yields because of the erosion of good soil, the nutritional intake of the people plummeted. First famine, then cannibalism, set in. Because the island could no longer feed the chiefs, bureaucrats and priests who kept the complex society running, the resulting chaos triggered a social and cultural collapse. By 1700 the population dropped to between one-quarter and one-tenth of its former number, and many of the statues were toppled during supposed “clan wars” of the 1600 and 1700’s. This all happened before the Europeans came. After they came, things got even worse.

To fully understand the tremendous social devastation that occurred on Easter Island it is vital to recognize that it was a consequence of two separate matters: the pre-European environmental degradation and ensuing cultural collapse and the inhumane behavior of many of the first European visitors, particularly the slavers who raped and murdered the islanders, introduced small pox and other diseases, and brutally removed the natives to mainland South America. Readers interested in more detailed information concerning the causes of Easter Island’s ecological devastation, its so-called civil war, and the genocide caused by European slavers will appreciate the article, From Genocide to Ecocide: The Rape of Rapa Nui , written by Benny Peiser. Recent research: New findings indicate that Native Americans had visited Easter Island before Columbus sailed to the Americas. The study, Genome-wide Ancestry Patterns in Rapanui Suggest Pre-European Admixture with Native Americans, was conducted by a team of geneticists from the Natural History Museum of Denmark and published in the journal Current Biology on November 3, 2014.

The scientists analyzed genetic markers for 27 native Rapanui (Easter Islanders) and determined that 10 percent of their genetic admixture came from American Indians, while 75 percent was Polynesian and 15 percent was European. The study’s co-authors, Eske Willerslev and Anna-Sapfo Malaspina, argue that this evidence supports the possibility of Native American contact prior to the European ‘discovery’ of the island in AD 1722, in particular that interbreeding between the Rapa Nui and native people in South America occurred roughly between 1300 and 1500, or 19 to 23 generations ago. Another interesting matter is that recent studies of the DNA of sweet potatoes appear to confirm that the Polynesians had cultivated it before contact with Europeans, strong evidence of American Indian-Polynesian contact. A 2013 study by a French team, led by Caroline Roullier and Vincent Lebot, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analyzed the DNA of sweet potatoes collected during the voyages of James Cook (who sailed the Pacific in the years 1768-1779).

Using these early and thus uncontaminated specimens, the researchers argued that their “results provide strong support for prehistoric transfer(s) of sweet potato from South America (Peru-Ecuador region) into Polynesia.” BBC NEWS | Americas | Easter Island has football debut Easter Island has football debut By Gideon Long BBC News, Santiago, Chile The famous stone statues of Easter Island could be seen from the pitch Easter Island, the tiny South Pacific territory administered by Chile, has staged its first ever officially sanctioned football match. The islanders played their first competitive fixture in the Chilean Cup. The game ended in a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Colo Colo, the 28-time national champions dubbed the Manchester United of Chilean football. Fifa - the sport's governing body - had described the clash as the island's "match of the century". It had always promised to be a tough challenge, and sure enough, Colo Colo won with two goals in each half. Party atmosphere But this was about more than just football. There was a carnival atmosphere throughout. The game was played on an atrocious, bumpy pitch just yards from the beach.

A war dance failed to throw Chilean champions Colo Colo off their game A blustery wind blowing in from the Pacific Ocean made conditions tricky for both sides. Virtually the entire population of 4,000 islanders turned out to watch. Many wore traditional Polynesian dress and face paint, and held aloft the island's distinctive red and white flag. The match was broadcast live on Chilean TV to viewers over 3,700 km (2,300 miles) away on the mainland. Before kick-off, the Easter islanders staged a war dance - a native show of bravado designed to intimidate their opponents. But if Colo Colo were frightened, they did not show it, and it was they who went through to the second round of the Chilean Cup. For the players of Easter Island - which is famous for its mysterious stone statues - the cup run is over, at least for another year.

Bookmark with: Easter Island - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com Google Early Settlement The first human inhabitants of Rapa Nui (the Polynesian name for Easter Island; its Spanish name is Isla de Pascua) are believed to have arrived in an organized party of emigrants around 300-400 A.D. Tradition holds that the first king of Rapa Nui was Hoto-Matua, a ruler from a Polynesian subgroup (possibly from the Marquesa Islands) whose ship traveled thousands of miles before landing at Anakena, one of the few sandy beaches on the island’s rocky coast. Did You Know? After the decline of the moai culture, a new cult of bird worship developed on Easter Island. It was centered on a ceremonial village called Orongo, built on the rim of the crater of the Rano Kao volcano. The greatest evidence for the rich culture developed by the original settlers of Rapa Nui and their descendants is the existence of nearly 900 giant stone statues that have been found in diverse locations around the island.

Averaging 13 feet (4 meters) high, with a weight of 13 tons, these enormous stone busts–known as moai–were carved out of tuff (the light, porous rock formed by consolidated volcanic ash) and placed atop ceremonial stone platforms called ahus. It is still unknown precisely why these statues were constructed in such numbers and on such a scale, or how they were moved around the island. Phases of Island Culture Archaeological excavations of Easter Island reveal three distinct cultural phases: the early period (700-850 A.D.), the middle period (1050-1680) and the late period (post-1680). Between the early and middle periods, evidence has shown that many early statues were deliberately destroyed and rebuilt as the larger and heavier moai for which the island is most famous. During the middle period, ahus also contained burial chambers, and the images portrayed by moai are thought to have represented important figures that were deified after death. The biggest statue found dating to the middle period measures about 32 feet tall, and consists of a single block weighing about 82 tons (74,500 kilograms).

The late period of the island’s civilization was characterized by civil wars and general destruction; more statues were toppled, and many mataa, or obsidian spearpoints, have been found dating to that period. Island tradition claims that around 1680, after peacefully coexisting for many years, one of the island’s two main ethnic groups, known as the Short-Ears, rebelled against the Long-Ears, burning many of them to death on a pyre constructed along an ancient ditch at Poike, on the island’s far northeastern coast. Outsiders on Easter Island The first known European visitor to Easter Island was the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who arrived in 1722. The Dutch named the island Paaseiland (Easter Island) to commemorate the day they arrived. In 1770, the Spanish viceroy of Peru sent an expedition to the island; the explorers spent four days ashore and estimated a native population of some 3,000 people.

Just four years later, the British navigator Sir James Cook arrived to find Easter Island’s population decimated by what seemed to have been a civil war, with only 600 to 700 men and fewer than 30 women remaining. A French navigator, Jean-Francois de Galaup, comte de La Perouse, found 2,000 people on the island when he arrived in 1786. A major slave raid from Peru in 1862, followed by epidemics of smallpox, reduced the population to only 111 people by 1877. By that time, Catholic missionaries had settled on Easter Island and begun to convert the population to Christianity, a process that was completed by the late 19th century. In 1888, Chile annexed Easter Island, leasing much of the land for sheep raising. The Chilean government appointed a civilian governor for Easter Island in 1965, and the island’s residents became full Chilean citizens. Easter Island Today An isolated triangle measuring 14 miles long by seven miles wide, Easter Island was formed by a series of volcanic eruptions.

In addition to its hilly terrain, the island contains many subterranean caves with corridors that extend deep into mountains of volcanic rock. The island’s largest volcano is known as Rano Kao, and its highest point is Mount Terevaka, which reaches 1,969 feet (600 meters) above sea level. It has a subtropical climate (sunny and dry) and temperate weather. Easter Island boasts no natural harbor, but ships can anchor off Hanga Roa on the west coast; it is the island’s largest village, with a population of roughly 3,300. In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage site. It is now home to a mixed population, mostly of Polynesian ancestry and made up of the descendants of the Long-Ears and Short-Ears. Spanish is generally spoken, and the island has developed an economy largely based on tourism. Tags Easter Island Facts Easter Island Facts Interesting Facts on Easter Island Easter Island is one of the world’s most famous yet least visited archaeological sites. Easter Island is a small, hilly and treeless island of volcanic origin.

It is located in the Pacific Ocean approximately 2200 miles (3600 kilometers) off the coast of the country of Chile, which owns the island. Easter Island is sixty-three square miles in size and has three extinct volcanoes, the tallest rising to 1674 feet. Technically speaking, the island is a single massive volcano rising over ten thousand feet from the Pacific Ocean floor. Easter Island History The oldest known names of Easter island are Te Pito o Te Henua, meaning ‘The Center of the World’ and Mata-Ki-Te-Rani, meaning ‘Eyes Looking at Heaven’. In the 1860’s Tahitian sailors gave the island the name Rapa Nui, meaning ‘Great Rapa,’ due to its resemblance to another island in Polynesia called Rapa Iti, meaning ‘Little Rapa’. The island received its current name, Easter Island, from the Dutch sea captain Jacob Roggeveen who was the first European to visit on Easter Sunday, April 5, 1722.

In the early 1950s, the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl (famous for his Kon-Tiki and Ra raft voyages across the oceans) popularized the idea that Easter Island had originally been settled by advanced societies of Indians from the coast of South America. Extensive archaeological, ethnographic and linguistic research has conclusively shown this hypothesis to be inaccurate. It is now recognized that the original inhabitants of Easter Island were of Polynesian stock (DNA extracts from skeletons have confirmed this), that they most probably came from the Marquesas or Society islands, and that they arrived as early as 318 AD. Easter Island Statues Easter Island’s most famous features are its enormous stone statues called moai, at least 288 of which once stood upon massive stone platforms called ahu. There are some 250 of these ahu platforms spaced approximately one half mile apart to create an almost unbroken line around the perimeter of the island. Another 600 moai statues, in various stages of completion, are scattered throughout the island. Nearly all the moai are carved from the hard stone of the Rano Raraku volcano.

The average moai statue is 14 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs 14 tons. Some moai were as large as 33 feet and weighed more than 80 tons. Depending upon the size of the statues, it is estimated that 50-150 people were needed to drag them across the countryside on sleds and rollers made from the island's trees. A small number of the moai were once capped with ‘crowns’ or ‘hats’ of red volcanic stone. The meaning and purpose of these capstones is not known. Easter Island Mysteries Scholars are unable to explain the meaning and use of the moai statues. It is assumed that their carving and erection derived from an idea rooted in similar practices found elsewhere in Polynesia but which evolved in a unique way on Easter Island. The statues may have been used for religious purposes. Carved stone and wooden objects in ancient Polynesian religions, when properly fashioned and ritually prepared, were believed to have a magical spiritual essence called mana. Archaeologists have suggested that the moai statues of Easter Island were created with a similar purpose in mind.

Easter Island facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Easter Island ETHNONYMS: Isla de Pascua, Pito-O-Te Henua, Rapa Nui Orientation Identification. Easter Island, the easternmost island in Polynesia, was so named by Jacob Roggeveen who came upon it on Easter Sunday in 1722. Easter Islanders evidently never had a name of their own for the island. "Rapa Nui" (also Rapa-nui, Rapanui) came into use in the 1800s and eventually became the preferred name for Easter Island throughout Polynesia. The origin of Rapa Nui is unclear but the name was evidently given by people from another island, perhaps Rapa. In 1862 and 1863 Easter Island experienced a severe depopulation that led to the destruction of much of its traditional culture. Subsequent contact with Chile , which took possession of Easter Island in 1888, has produced a culture containing many elements borrowed from South America . Easter Island is currently a dependency of Chile. Location.

Easter Island is located at 27°8′ S and 190°25′ W, about 4,200 kilometers off the coast of Chile and 1,760 kilometers east of Pitcairn Island, the nearest inhabited island. It is a triangular-shape volcanic high island with a total area of 180 square kilometers. The most prominent physical features are the three volcanic peaks, each located at one corner of the island. The land is either barren rock or covered by grass or shrubs, although parts were heavily forested in the past. Only flocks of sea birds and the Polynesian rat were indigenous to the island, with chickens, dogs, pigs, sheep, and cattle introduced by people from other islands or Europeans. The climate is tropical. Water was obtained from springs and by collecting rainwater. Demography. Population estimates by European explorers in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries ranged from 600 to 3,000, although none can be considered reliable. There are indications that the precontact population could have been as much as 10,000 people.

From 1862 to 1871 severe depopulation resulted from the kidnapping of about 1,000 men by Peruvian slavers, a smallpox epidemic, and relocation to Mangareva and Tahiti. In 1872 reliable missionary reports indicated only 175 people on Easter Island. The population continued to decline until the late 1880s and then slowly increased to 456 in 1934. In 1981, there were about 1,900 Easter Islanders on Easter Island and others living in Chile, Tahiti, and the United States . Easter Islanders make up about two-thirds of the island population, with the others being mainly Chilean military personnel or government employees. Linguistic Affiliation. Easter Islanders speak Rapa Nui (Pascuense), a Polynesian language that has been described as closely related to the languages spoken on Tahiti, Mangareva, and by the Maori in New Zealand . Since contact, words from French, English, and Spanish have been added to the lexicon. Because of the Chilean presence, many Easter Islanders also speak Spanish.

There is debate over whether symbols found carved in wood boards called rongorongo are a precontact written language, pictographs, symbolic ornamentation, or copies of Spanish documents left by early explorers. History and Cultural Relations The settlement of Easter Island has been a topic of considerable conjecture and debate. Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki expedition showed that the island could have been settled from South America, although linguistic and archaeological evidence suggests settlement from other Polynesian islands Perhaps as early as a.d. 400. Wherever the first Easter Islanders migrated from, it is likely that, given the remote location of the island, they were relatively isolated from other Polynesians. First contact with Europeans was with the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen in 1722. There is some evidence that because of deforestation and wars between subtribes, the population was already declining and the culture disintegrating at this time. The island was subsequently visited, usually infrequently and briefly, by a succession of Spanish, English, French, American, and Russian explorers, traders, and whalers.

The first major and the most significant contact occurred in 1862 when Peruvian slavers raided the island and kidnapped about 1,000 men to the guano islands off the Peruvian coast. There the Easter Islanders were forced to mine guano for one year during which time 900 died. Facing an international scandal, the Peruvian government sent the remaining 100 men home, although only 15 survived the trip. Infected with smallpox, they spread the disease to those on the island, further reducing the population to perhaps 25 percent of what it had been in 1862. The depopulation, disease, fear of outsiders, and death of many leaders led to cultural disintegration and a loss of much of the traditional culture within a decade. Catholic missionaries arrived in 1863, beginning a small though continuous European presence to this day. Within ten years, all surviving Easter Islanders were converted to Roman Catholicism, with many of the economic and social practices taught by the priests replacing traditional culture practices.

In 1888 Chile annexed the island and subsequently leased 160 square kilometers to the Williamson and Balfour Company, which established sheep ranching for wool. The remaining 20 square kilometers were set aside for use by the Easter Islanders. In 1954 governance of the island and the sheep-ranching business was turned over to the Chilean navy, and in 1965, in response to islander complaints, the island was put under civilian control. Easter Island is Currently a dependency of Chile and Easter Islanders are Chilean citizens. Settlements Since 1862 the Easter Islanders have lived in or around the village of Hangoroa in the southwest corner of the island. European-style stone and wood houses have completely replaced the traditional forms. Before 1862, villages were located along the coast, leaving the interior mostly uninhabited. Dwellings included thatched huts, semisubterranean houses, and caves. Wealthier Easter Islanders evidently lived in larger houses, often with stone foundations. In addition to dwellings, villages often contained cooking shelters, underground ovens, stone chicken coops, turtle watchtowers, and stone-walled gardens.

Economy Subsistence and Commercial Activities. Prior to 1862, Easter Islanders subsisted mainly on cultivated crops, with sweet potatoes being the most important. Taro, yams, sugarcane, bananas, gourds, turmeric, and arrowroot were also grown while berries and seabird eggs were gathered. Fish provided some protein, although fishing was never a major Subsistence activity. Easter Islanders continue to farm small plots today, although maize is now the major crop and Chilean cuisine has replaced the native diet. Since the introduction of sheep ranching, sheep and cattle on the island have been the primary sources of meat. Most material goods are now obtained from the store on the island and from the Chilean government. In addition to farming and fishing, Easter Islanders now work for the government, in a few small businesses, and in the tourist industry. Industrial Arts. Easter Islanders were highly skilled stone-cutters and stone-carvers, masons, woodcutters, and canoe makers. Today, some carve wood images for the tourist trade. The stone-carving tradition had already been abandoned at the time of contact, though the large stone statues survived and drew the attention of visitors to the island.

Easter Islanders also made various utensils, implements, and tools from stone and wood, baskets, nets, mats, cordage, tapa (a cloth made from bark), and body ornaments. Trade. Because of their isolation, Easter Islanders evidently did not trade with other groups in Polynesia. There has been conjecture that some culture elements developed through contact with South America, most notably the facial images on the stone monuments. These ideas remain unproven. Division of Labor. Men were responsible for planting the gardens, fishing, and building the stone structures. Women harvested crops and handled most domestic chores. There was also a well-defined occupational hierarchy, with expert reciters of genealogies and folklore, stone-carvers, wood-carvers, and fishermen paid for their services with produce. Stone-carvers were a privileged group with the role and status passed from father to son. Land Tenure. In traditional times, land was owned by lineages with dwelling and farm plots alloted to families. Since 1888 Chile has maintained ownership of all of Easter Island and has restricted the Easter Islanders to land in and around Hangoroa. Newlyweds are given a few acres of land for their use by the Chilean government.

Kinship Kin Groups and Descent. The population of Easter Island was divided into ten subtribes or clans (mata ), each of which evidently occupied a distinct territory in precontact times. By historic times, subtribe members were more widely dispersed as a result of exogamous marriage, adoption, and capture during war. The ten clans formed two larger divisions, with one controlling the western half and the other the eastern half of the island. Kinship Terminology. Traditional kin term usage followed the Hawaiian system, which has been modified over time to reflect changes in family organization. Marriage and Family Marriage. In traditional times, most marriages were monogamous, though some wealthy men had more than one wife. Marriages were generally arranged, with infant betrothal not uncommon. Today, marriage is by free choice, although the fathers of both the groom and bride are involved in approving and making arrangements for the marriage. Marriages are marked by three ceremonies—a civil ceremony, church ceremony, and a large feast hosted by the groom's father—reflecting the survival of a traditional practice. Upon marriage, the couple generally live with one family or the other until materials can be obtained to build their own home.

In the past, many marriages ended in divorce, which could be initiated by either party for virtually any reason. The Roman Catholic church has made divorce more difficult and less frequent. Domestic Unit. In the past, the basic family and residential unit was the laterally extended family composed of brothers, their wives, and their children. Today, the nuclear family is the norm, although other relatives such as grandparents and brothers might also be present. In the past and today, the father was the authority figure, although today the wife's father has more power than the husband's father and a son-in-law will often seek his father-in-law's approval for educational and career decisions. Under Chilean influence, the role of godparent (compadre ) has developed, and godparents often play a role in child rearing. Inheritance. In the past and today, both men and women could inherit and both men and women could leave property. Socialization. Puberty in traditional times was marked for boys and girls by secluding them on an island for some months and then holding large separate feasts at the end of the seclusion period. These rites disappeared long ago, and puberty is no longer marked by ritual.

The Chilean government provides a school for elementary education and some Easter Islanders attend high school in Chile. Social and Political Organization Social Organization. In addition to social distinctions based on kinship, Easter Island traditionally had four distinct social classes: noblemen (ariki); priests (ivi-atua); warriors (matatoa); and servants and farmers (kio). The ruler was the main high chief (ariki-mau ) who traced his status to descent from Hotu-matua, the founder of the island. In reality, ariki were invested with considerable mana and were subject to numerous taboos, although they had little actual power. Little is known about the activities of priests, as the role had disappeared by the time missionaries arrived. Kio were war captives who worked for others or paid tribute in the form of percentage of their crops. Political Organization. As noted above, the nominal rulers came from the ariki class, with succession to the position of high chief going to the oldest son at the time of his marriage. However, since this marriage was often delayed many years beyond that of most Easter Islanders, chiefs often held their position for some years.

At the time of sustained Contact, warriors were the actual political leaders, reflecting a long history of fighting among the subtribes and the almost continuous fighting that followed the kidnapping of men in 1862. Today, the Easter Islanders are governed by Chile, with a Chilean governor, civil service, and police force providing services. Easter Islander representation is through the mayor of Hangoroa. Social Control. Most early observers described theft as a common occurrence, with items stolen both from Europeans and from other Easter Islanders. Revenge was the major form of social control (actually it often led to warfare rather than peace) in early historic times. Taboos on the king, nobles, various foods, places, crops, death, and so on were a major aspect of everyday life and were rigorously enforced. Taboo violators were subject to beatings and even death. Although traditional taboos have now disappeared, they were still a strong infuence in the 1860s. Today, the laws of Chile are enforced by the Chilean police and government officials on the island. Conflict. Wars were evidently common between the subtribes and especially between the eastern and western factions.

Wars were often for revenge and involved ambushes, burning and looting villages, and the taking of captives, some of whom were tortured. War with Europeans was short-lived, and after the kidnapping in 1862 many Easter Islanders fled to inland caves upon the arrival of European ships. Religion and Expressive Culture Religious Beliefs. The traditional pantheon included at least ninety different named gods and spirits divided into the two categories of high gods and lesser gods. High gods included the creator, the rain god, and the superior god (Make-make). Lesser gods included gods with more restricted powers, nature spirits, demons, and ancestor spirits. Religious ritual included offerings of food and tapa, communication through priests, and chanting. Traditional beliefs have now been completely replaced by Roman Catholicism. Religious Practitioners. Priests, who could be men or women, were evidently drawn from the noble class. Little is known of the role and status of priests other than the fact that they acted as healers and communicated with the supernatural world through possession trance. Priests could also place curses that were considered especially harmful. There were also sorcerers whose skills were used to influence or cause harm to others. Ceremonies.

Ceremonies were held to bring rain, sanctify new houses, and to ensure a rich harvest as well as to mark all major life-cycle events. The annual feast of the bird cult (tangata-manu ) and the feast of the Bird-Man were the most important ceremonies. Arts. The best-known of the traditional arts centered on stoneworking and stone carving. The most dramatic expressions of this tradition are the 600 large (from 20 to 60 feet high) carved stone statues mounted on stone platforms called ahu. The statues are most likely portraits of ancestors and chiefs. Statue carving had ceased by the time of European contact, with some 150 statues sitting unfinished in the quarry and many toppled over. Petroglyphs have been found on the island, and some interior stone walls of houses are decorated with paintings. Traditionally, various body ornaments were carved and both men and women wore body tattoos. The carving of wooden images, which was a common activity in early times, has evolved into a tourist-based economic activity with human images much in demand. Medicine.

Healing was done by the priests who used steaming, massage, binding, a limited pharmacopoeia, and contact with spirits. Today, Easter Islanders use Western medical care provided by Chile. Death and Afterlife. In the past, the body of the deceased was placed on the ahu platform and left to decompose. The bones were then buried in the ahu vault. Much behavior that would normally occur in the vicinity of the ahu was taboo during the time the body was displayed. The funeral ceremony involved a large feast with singing and dancing. Today, Roman Catholic practices have replaced the traditional ones, although the latter survived into the twentieth century, far longer than many other cultural traits. The body is now displayed in the home, followed by the church rite and burial in a coffin in the church cemetery. Interment is marked by hysterical grief. In the evening there is a feast with food taboos for the family of the deceased. Bibliography Barthel, Thomas (1978). The Eighth Land: The Polynesian Discovery and Settlement of Easter Island. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Cooke, Melinda W. (1984).

"Easter Island." In Oceania: A Regional Study, edited by Frederica M. Burge and Melinda W. Cooke, 371-375. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. Ferndon, Edwin N., Jr. (1957). "Notes on the Present-Day Easter Islanders." Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 13:223-238. Metraux, Alfred (1940). Ethnology of Easter Island. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin no. 160. Honolulu. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. MLA BBC - Primary History - World History - Easter Island Statue Easter Island Statue Hoa Hakananai'a This is a really mysterious statue. It comes from Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean, a small island famous for giant stone figures called moai. This statue has its own name: Hoa Hakananai'a, which means 'stolen or hidden friend'. Easter Island is mainly grassy, with steep cliffs and extinct (dead) volcanoes.

Nowadays it is part of the country of Chile, and its local name is Rapanui. The name 'Easter Island' came from a Dutch sea captain named Jacob Roggeveen, who landed there on Easter Sunday in 1722. In 1774, the English explorer Captain James Cook visited the island and his ship's artist, William Hodges, painted its statues, some wearing 'hats' of reddish rock. Who made these giants, and why? Back to top One of many This statue is now in the British Museum, and was collected in 1868 by the crew of the British ship HMS Topaze. It weighs about 4 tons, so moving it was hard work; it was dragged to the beach and floated out to the ship on a raft, the sea washing off most of its original red and white paint. It's one of more than 280 figures, and about 600 others were never finished. Many of the statues end at the hips, and show men with long ears, and deep eye sockets that possibly once had coloured eyes. The biggest figures are giants 20 metres tall and weighing 50 tons or more.

Cut from volcanic rock, the statues were stood on stone platforms to form a ring around the island, facing inland. Back to top Home and away When this statue left for Britain, Easter Island had been badly affected by human action and environmental changes. Raiders had carried off hundreds of people as slaves; others died of diseases, and farming had deforested the landscape. By 1877, there were only 111 islanders left. The ancient beliefs faded, leaving only half-remembered stories about the giant statues, and why they were once important. Experts think the stone men probably represented dead ancestors, and were important in the old island religion. Settlers from Polynesia first landed on Easter Island in canoes about AD 400, but the statues were made later, between AD 1000 and 1600, when the island was ruled by kings. There followed changes to religious beliefs during which the old ancestor-beliefs, and the statues, were toppled. The last statues were toppled in the 1860s.

Easter Island (Rapa Nui) - Lonely Planet Easter Island (Rapa Nui) Adventures Welcome to Easter Island (Rapa Nui) Few areas in the world possess a more mystical pull than this tiny speck of land, one of the most isolated places on Earth. It's hard to feel connected to Chile, over 3700km to the east, let alone the wider world. Endowed with the most logic-defying statues in the world – the strikingly familiar moai – Easter Island (Rapa Nui to its native Polynesian inhabitants) emanates a magnetic, mysterious vibe... Read More Top experiences in Easter Island (Rapa Nui) Sights in Easter Island (Rapa Nui)

Question: Easter Island, famous for its stone statues, is administered by which country?
Answer: CHILE